Typer’s room: Fairly short chapter today. Though it did come earlier than expected thanks to some situations.
Well, today some preparations for the next arc as well as laying a bit of what happened in the background during the time-skip. While the Arc already started some time ago, it finally gets clear on the next chapter so let’s see how it goes.
Finally, as a joke that I plan on keeping my word on, here’s a small announcement. Some days ago a member of the Den started posting his own GB story here in RRL, and I promised to give him some free advertisement. Some of you may know him from the comments sections as Xacual, and the fic he’s writing is Crashed Into Fantasy. Now go there and give it a go, okay?
As I said before, this is VASTLY a work in progress, and wasn’t made to be posted initially, so there might be some inconsistencies. If so, please do tell me, as I want to make it an enjoyable read ^^
May your reading be enjoyable.
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“NOOOO!” “How will we live without our little goddess shedding light into the dark night?” “I’d rather die than work the night without our little goddess!” “Little goddess, are you abandoning me?” “I see. So this is what they call the dark ages.” “Pain. All I see is pain in our future.”
I smiled awkwardly while watching the uncles from the smithy doing their usual scene after overhearing my talk with father. Usually this would be the time when father would also come and stop their over-the-top reactions, but…
Gently patting my father’s back, I laughed dryly a bit more while using a tissue I brought from milady’s house to clear the tears from his eyes as he sat on a chair and bent forward with dead eyes.
“Geez. It’s not like I won’t come back here again you know?” I said awkwardly while gently tapping his back. “I just can’t come help with the night shifts, you know?”
At my words, everyone in the room froze in place for a moment before blinking surprised and staring at me, as if they had heard something amazing. For a few seconds they were completely silent, but finally the uncles all sighed in relief before dispersing back into their works as if nothing had happened.
Some screams echoed from the back of the smithy, but I decided to not worry about it. Back to the man before me, my father finally snapped out of his shock and also heaved a sigh. I smiled at him waiting for him to recover, but before I had to the chance to react, he suddenly hugged me.
“Don’t make your father worry too much! I almost thought that I would lose the only chance I had to see you!” As he said that he raised me from the ground and squeezed me tightly to the point that I worried if a kid would have been able to take that without being a spiritualist. “And here I thought that those bastards at the household were trying to take you away from me!”
“And why do you think they’d even do that?” I asked wryly.
“Cause they already have you living with them almost all week long!” He said in a tantrum.
“Well, my work does require me to stay with milady all day long though.”
“But you are only seven years old! And you also get into danger since Tian is a noble! How can I be calm knowing you are getting into those kinds of situations?” This would be a compelling argument if we hadn’t gone through it at least a few tens of times already.
“I know dad.” I said tiredly. I learned first hand how dangerous this job can be after what happened on the Song’s household three years ago. “That’s why I'm training myself. If I get strong enough, I won’t have to worry about getting hurt.” Or letting milady get hurt for that matter.
“Haaah…” He sighed. “If you say so...” He finally let me go so that I could once again stand on the ground. Bouncing a few times so I could get the feel of solidness under my feet, I nodded satisfied before smiling back at him.
He smiled back in defeat before rubbing my head gently. I smiled in pleasure at the sensation. For a few seconds we simply stayed there, but soon he pulled back his hand, and I instinctively tried pressing my head against it.
Pouting slightly annoyed when he finally pulled back his hand for good and gave a brief laugh.
“At least make sure that you don’t get too hurt, okay?” He said to which I nodded so that I could calm him down. “Still, why did she suddenly told you to stop with the night shifts?” He asked confused.
“Well… She kind of got angry when she found out that I've been helping here...” I said while dodging his eyes. However, father quickly noticed my reaction was slightly suspicious as his eyes narrowed while staring at me.
“What…. Exactly do you mean, Lia?” He asked me. “You didn’t tell her you were working here with me? And that’s why she’s angry with you”
“Weeelll… Not quite...” I said while looking away even more. Father’s hand suddenly grabbed my shoulder and I couldn’t help but have this feeling that I couldn’t get free from his grasps even if I tried.
“...Lia...”
In the end, I gave up.
“She… Got mad with me because she thought I wasn’t sleeping enough...” I explained to him, to which he froze for a moment while he thought about my words.
“Hmm… Doesn’t training as a spiritualist reduces sleep time needed or something like that?” He asked confused.
“Ermm… That doesn’t seem to be the case until later on?” I said awkwardly.
“So, she got angry because you were sleeping on the job after helping here overnight?”
“No… I… Wasn’t actually sleeping at all?”
For a moment father kept staring at me blankly for some time, but after a moment I heard the sound of something snapping and before I could run away father already had me explaining what exactly was happening.
As soon as he heard the whole story I told to milady, he started scolding me much like how milady did, but since he didn’t have anything to do, he went on for almost half an hour non stop.
I left the room with my ears aching from such a long sermon from father. Seeing my state, the uncles quickly came up to me asking what had happened, and deciding to get some comfort from them, I quickly told them what happened.
The result was that I spent another fifteen minutes hearing an earful from the uncles too.
HEY! THIS ISN’T WHAT’S SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN! I mean, I know you guys are right, but aren’t you supposed to be on my side here?
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
After almost a whole hour spent in the smithy only being scolded for not taking care of my health despite the fact that I sincerely didn’t feel tired at ALL even with one or two hours of sleep, I finally managed to get my mind back on track and prepare to go back to the mansion.
“Then, I'll be going.” I said while walking out of the workshop.
“Make sure to sleep enough tonight, you hear me?” Father said on the door as I walked away.
“Moou! I heard it already!” I complained while grabbing the handle of the cart.
“Anyway, will you come again on your next break?” He asked, to which I nodded.
“I’ll probably come in…” I stopped to try and remember my schedule. “Three days?” I tried to remember a bit better before nodding. “Hmm. I should come around then.” I nodded before stopping to think and widen my eyes excited. “Will you teach me how to make weapons?”
“No. You’ll still stick to purifying the metal and train your hammering.” He shot me down quickly, making me blink surprised before pouting.
“But I want to start making weapons!” I said in a low tone. “You promised you’d teach me when I became five, but for the last three years all I've done was that!”
“And you’ll keep honing your basics until I feel that you are good enough.” Father said while nodding proudly, his usual happy-go-lucky look completely gone as he looked serious.
“But… The uncles said that you only trained them for a few months.”
“Why do you think that even with all of them together, they still can’t make something better than me, huh?” Father said provocatively, and I finally widened my eyes understanding.
“Aaah. So Uncles are trash at the forge?”
“Something like that.”
“I see...” I nodded while finally understanding that father was actually looking after me in his own way. This didn’t mean that I was completely satisfied with the current schedule though.
Well, it’s not like there was anything I could do about it. Thinking so, I finally sighed and nodded while grabbing my cart and carrying it away. As I left, the usual ruckus started.
“See you later little goddess!” “Please, don’t take too long!” “Sleep well! And dream with me!” “Forget my old man! Dream with me! Then marry me!” “Forgive me my goddess! I knew not of your greatness!” “We will save you offerings for next time!” “You were so cute today!”
Hmm? Strange. I could swear that there was a new voice there…
It’s better if I don’t think too much about it.
…
I quickly greeted the guard at the entrance of the house and received a shocked expression from him as he watched a young girl pulling a cart that was a few times her size, full with food without even dropping a sweat.
Deciding that he must be someone new to the job, I greeted him and entered the mansion while leaving the other guard to explain things to him. Bringing the cart to the back of the house, near the kitchen entrance. As soon as I arrived, three aides quickly appeared and started unloading the cart, calling for the help of the nearby bored guards to help with the heavier things.
Since I was on the stronger side, I quickly pulled up one of the large grain bags and threw it over my head while carrying it to the kitchen.
The following hours I spent mostly helping out in the kitchen and setting up the main hall for the late party. Since it was mostly something for those who live and work in the household, we didn’t make anything too grand. We did bring a bunch of extra tables though, as we were also inviting the retired guards and aides over, so the usual table wasn’t really that big enough.
Meanwhile, it seemed like master was still holding back on his present for milady, as she kept pestering me on how he wouldn’t tell her anything even though she had been following him all day long, yet he kept always postponing it. And since she was afraid of waking up her baby brother, she couldn’t quite go after her mother either.
Feeling refreshed by milady’s unusual childish outburst, I went on carrying plates and cooking some basic things here and there. By the time it was the end of the afternoon, the bread and cake we asked for arrived and we had them brought in to the main hall
With that we spent our afternoon simply preparing for the night’s party, and once the night fell, we all gathered at the main hall, where the aides opened up some wine casks so that the adults could start drinking up.
“Congratulations milady!” “Happy coming of age lady Tian!” “May your life be long and healthy!” “It almost feels like yesterday when you were just a young girl.”
Sitting by her side as she patiently kept going through each and every one of the people who worked on the house, I couldn’t help but feel amused by her while quietly enjoying my cup of warm milk.
Well, technically, I'm already old enough to drink wine by this world’s standards, but after finding out that I'm fairly weak to it, I decided to abstain from drinking too much. In fact, milady had a small cup of that exact wine in her hand.
That said, the wine was sweet and I really liked it, so I kinda felt like drinking it again.
Maybe only a little sip…?
No. No. Last time all it took was two cups for me to get drunk.
“My My. Seems like I arrived at just the correct time.” We heard a familiar elderly sounding voice echoing.
“Master Roshi!” Me and Lady Tian said in synchrony as we saw the bald elderly man with magnificent beard on his chin.
“Hello there my young disciples.” He said while gently rubbing my head and nodding towards Tian. “I recon you have been keeping up with your trainings regularly, right?”
“Yes.” I said with a nod that was followed by milady’s. “It’s good to see you again!” He spent the last two months off traveling, sorting some personal problems and whatnot, so to see him right on milady’s birthday was a bit surprising.
“Hmm. It’s good to see you two again.” He said with a playful smile. “Sorry for leaving so suddenly like that, but at least I bring you good news.” With his words, the two of us tilted our heads confused and curious. “But I'll tell you after the party, it will be your present after all.” He said amusedly..
“Not you too, teacher.” Milady said a bit annoyed as she pouted a bit.